User interfaces for a document search engine

ABSTRACT

A method includes receiving a search query, identifying a document based on the search query, and providing a search result based on the document. The search result includes, for example, an image associated with the document, an excerpt from the document that is associated with the search query, and links to other excerpts in the document that are associated with the search query. The method may also include providing other information associated with the document.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the inventionrelate generally to information retrieval and, more particularly, touser interfaces for the presentation of information regarding documentspossibly related to a search query.

2. Description of Related Art

Modern computer networks, and in particular, the Internet, have madelarge bodies of information widely and easily available. Free Internetsearch engines, for instance, index many millions of web documents thatare linked to the Internet. A user connected to the Internet can enter asimple search query to quickly locate web documents relevant to thesearch query.

One category of content that is not widely available on the Internet,however, includes the more traditional printed works of authorship, suchas books and magazines. One impediment to making such works digitallyavailable is that it can be difficult to convert printed versions of theworks to digital form. Optical character recognition (OCR), which is theact of using an optical scanning device to generate images of text thatare then converted to characters in a computer-readable format (e.g., anASCII file), is a known technique for converting printed text to auseful digital form. OCR systems generally include an optical scannerfor generating images of printed pages and software for analyzing theimages.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, a method may include receiving a search query,identifying a document based on the search query, and providing a searchresult based on the document. The search result may include an imageassociated with the document, an excerpt from the document that isassociated with the search query, and links to other excerpts in thedocument that are associated with the search query.

According to another aspect, a graphical user interface that is embodiedin a computer-readable medium is provided. The graphical user interfacemay include a set of search results associated with a corresponding setof documents. The search results are generated based on a search query.One of the search results may include an image associated with thedocument, an excerpt from the document that includes a search term ofthe search query, and links to other excerpts in the document thatinclude a search term of the search query.

According to a further aspect, a graphical user interface that isembodied in a computer-readable medium is provided. The graphical userinterface may include a set of links to portions of a document, anexcerpt from the document, where the excerpt may include an image oftext from the document, a description of content of the document,information regarding web documents associated with the document, andbibliographic information associated with the document.

According to another aspect, a graphical user interface that is embodiedin a computer-readable medium is provided. The graphical user interfacemay include a page of a document, where the page may includes a searchterm, a set of links to portions of the document, and a link to a nextor previous page of the document that includes the search term.

According to yet another aspect, a graphical user interface that isembodied in a computer-readable medium is provided. The graphical userinterface may include a first excerpt from a document, where the firstexcerpt may include a portion of text of a page of the document and athumbnail image of the page; and a second excerpt from the document,where the second excerpt may include a portion of text of another pageof the document and a thumbnail image of the other page.

According to a further aspect, a graphical user interface that isembodied in a computer-readable medium is provided. The graphical userinterface may include a set of images of a corresponding set of pages ofa document that include a search term; a set of links associated withthe set of images, where each of the links may permit a larger view ofthe corresponding image to be presented; and a set of links to otherportions of the document.

According to another aspect, a graphical user interface that is embodiedin a computer-readable medium is provided. The graphical user interfacemay include information regarding a page of a document and a set oflinks to previously accessed pages of the document, where each of thelinks is generated based on a user accessing the previously accessedpage.

According to a further aspect, a graphical user interface that isembodied in a computer-readable medium is provided. The graphical userinterface may include information regarding a set of previously accessedpages associated with a set of documents and an image associated withone of the documents. The information may be generated based on a useraccessing the previously accessed pages.

According to another aspect, a computer-readable medium containscomputer-executable instructions and may include instructions forreceiving a search query, instructions for identifying a document basedon the search query, and instructions for providing a search resultbased on the document. The search result may include an excerpt from thedocument that includes a search term associated with the search queryand links to other excerpts in the document that include a search termassociated with the search query.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the inventionand, together with the description, explain the invention. In thedrawings,

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network in which systems and methodsconsistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server of FIG. 1 accordingto an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIGS. 3A-3C are flowcharts of exemplary processing for presentinginformation regarding documents related to a search query according toan implementation consistent with the principles of the invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are exemplary diagrams of user interfaces for presentingsearch results according to implementations consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIGS. 5A-5C are exemplary diagrams of reference pages that may bepresented according to a few implementations consistent with theprinciples of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of an excerpt page that may be presentedaccording to an implementation consistent with the principles of theinvention;

FIGS. 7A-7C are exemplary diagrams of all excerpts pages that may bepresented according to a few implementations consistent with theprinciples of the invention; and

FIGS. 8-13 are exemplary diagrams of graphical user interfaces that maybe presented to assist users in accessing previously accessed pagesaccording to a few implementations consistent with the principles of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to theaccompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawingsmay identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detaileddescription does not limit the invention.

Overview

More and more types of documents are becoming searchable via searchengines. For example, some documents, such as books, magazines, and/orcatalogs, may be scanned and their text recognized via OCR. It isbeneficial to present information regarding these and other types ofdocuments in a manner that is useful to users seeking such information.

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention mayprovide information regarding documents that may be identified asrelevant to search queries in a manner that is useful to the users whoprovided the search queries.

Exemplary Network Configuration

FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network 100 in which systems andmethods consistent with the principles of the invention may beimplemented. Network 100 may include multiple clients 110 connected tomultiple servers 120-140 via a network 150. Two clients 110 and threeservers 120-140 have been illustrated as connected to network 150 forsimplicity. In practice, there may be more or fewer clients and servers.Also, in some instances, a client may perform the functions of a serverand a server may perform the functions of a client.

Clients 110 may include client entities. An entity may be defined as adevice, such as a wireless telephone, a personal computer, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a lap top, or another type of computation orcommunication device, a thread or process running on one of thesedevices, and/or an object executable by one of these devices. Servers120-140 may include server entities that gather, process, search, and/ormaintain documents in a manner consistent with the principles of theinvention.

In an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention,server 120 may include a search engine 125 usable by clients 110. Server120 may crawl a corpus of documents (e.g., web documents), index thedocuments, and store information associated with the documents in arepository of documents. Alternatively or additionally, server 120 mayanalyze a database (or set of databases) of documents (e.g., books,magazines, newspapers, articles, catalogs, etc.) and store informationassociated with the documents in the same or a different repository.Servers 130 and 140 may store or maintain documents that may be crawledor analyzed by server 120.

While servers 120-140 are shown as separate entities, it may be possiblefor one or more of servers 120-140 to perform one or more of thefunctions of another one or more of servers 120-140. For example, it maybe possible that two or more of servers 120-140 are implemented as asingle server. It may also be possible for a single one of servers120-140 to be implemented as two or more separate (and possiblydistributed) devices.

Network 150 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet, a memory device, or acombination of networks. Clients 110 and servers 120-140 may connect tonetwork 150 via wired, wireless, and/or optical connections.

Exemplary Client/Server Architecture

FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server entity (hereinaftercalled “client/server entity”), which may correspond to one or more ofclients 110 and servers 120-140, according to an implementationconsistent with the principles of the invention. The client/serverentity may include a bus 210, a processor 220, a main memory 230, a readonly memory (ROM) 240, a storage device 250, an input device 260, anoutput device 270, and a communication interface 280. Bus 210 mayinclude a path that permits communication among the elements of theclient/server entity.

Processor 220 may include a conventional processor, microprocessor, orprocessing logic that interprets and executes instructions. Main memory230 may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamicstorage device that may store information and instructions for executionby processor 220. ROM 240 may include a conventional ROM device oranother type of static storage device that may store static informationand instructions for use by processor 220. Storage device 250 mayinclude a magnetic and/or optical recording medium and its correspondingdrive.

Input device 260 may include a conventional mechanism that permits anoperator to input information to the client/server entity, such as akeyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometric mechanisms,etc. Output device 270 may include a conventional mechanism that outputsinformation to the operator, including a display, a printer, a speaker,etc. Communication interface 280 may include any transceiver-likemechanism that enables the client/server entity to communicate withother devices and/or systems. For example, communication interface 280may include mechanisms for communicating with another device or systemvia a network, such as network 150.

As will be described in detail below, the client/server entity,consistent with the principles of the invention, may perform certainsearching-related operations. The client/server entity may perform theseoperations in response to processor 220 executing software instructionscontained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory 230. Acomputer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logical memorydevice and/or carrier wave.

The software instructions may be read into memory 230 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as data storage device 250, or fromanother device via communication interface 280. The softwareinstructions contained in memory 230 may cause processor 220 to performprocesses that will be described later. Alternatively, hardwiredcircuitry may be used in place of or in combination with softwareinstructions to implement processes consistent with the principles ofthe invention. Thus, implementations consistent with the principles ofthe invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software.

Exemplary Processing

FIGS. 3A-3C are flowcharts of exemplary processing for presentinginformation regarding documents related to a search query according toan implementation consistent with the principles of the invention.Processing may begin with a user providing a search term (or a group ofsearch terms) as a search query for searching a document repository. Inone implementation, the document repository includes documents availablefrom the Internet and/or a database and the vehicle for searching thisrepository is a search engine, such as search engine 125 (FIG. 1). Theuser may provide the search query via web browser software on a client,such as client 110 (FIG. 1).

The search query may be received by the search engine and used toidentify documents (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, articles,catalogs, etc.) related to the search query (acts 305 and 310) (FIG.3A). A number of techniques exist for identifying documents related to asearch query. One such technique might include identifying documentsthat contain the search term or synonyms of the search term. When thesearch query includes more than one search term, then a technique mightinclude identifying documents that contain the search terms as a phrase,that contain the search terms but not necessarily together, or thatcontain less than all of the search terms. Yet other techniques areknown to those skilled in the art.

Optionally, the documents may be scored in some manner (act 315). Forexample, the score for a document may be based on an informationretrieval (IR) score. Several techniques exist for generating an IRscore. For example, an IR score for a document may be generated based onthe number of occurrences of the search terms in the document text,where the search terms occur within the document (e.g., title, content,footer, header, etc.), or characteristics of occurrences of the searchterms (e.g., font, size, color, etc.). Yet other techniques are known tothose skilled in the art.

Search results may be formed based on the documents and their optionalscores and presented to the user (act 320). In one implementation, thesearch results may include information associated with the documents,such as links to the documents, that may optionally be sorted based onthe document scores. The search results may be provided as a HTMLdocument, similar to search results provided by conventional searchengines. Alternatively, the search results may be provided according toanother format agreed upon by the search engine and the client (e.g.,Extensible Markup Language (XML)).

FIGS. 4A and 4B are exemplary diagrams of user interfaces for presentingsearch results according to implementations consistent with theprinciples of the invention. Assume that a user provided a search querythat included the search term “memory” and a search was performed basedon the search query to identify a set of documents related to the searchquery.

In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 4A, a search result 410 mayinclude a document title 412, author information 414, an excerpt 416from the document, an address 418 associated with the document,optionally links 420 to other relevant excerpts in the document, and animage 422 associated with the document. Document title 412 may include atitle associated with the document. Selection of document title 412 maycause detailed information, possibly in the form of a reference page(described below) or an excerpt page (described below), associated withthe document to be presented. Author information 414 may include thename(s) of the author(s) of the document.

Excerpt 416 may include a portion of the document that includes a searchterm of the search query. Optionally, occurrences of the search term maybe visually distinguished (e.g., highlighted) in the portion of thedocument. Excerpt 416 may also include a page number associated with theexcerpt. In one implementation, selection of the page number may resultin presentation of an excerpt page (described below) associated with theexcerpt.

Address 418 may include an address at which the document is stored.Links 420 may permit one or more other excerpts from the document to bepresented to the user. Image 422 may include an image of, for example, afront cover (or another portion) of the document (if available). In oneimplementation, image 422 includes a thumbnail version of the frontcover of the document.

In another implementation, as shown in FIG. 4B, a search result 450 mayinclude document title and author information 452, a first excerpt 454from the document, a second excerpt 456 from the document, optionally alink 458 to other relevant excerpts in the document, and an image 460associated with the document. Document title and author information 452may include a title associated with the document and/or the name(s) ofthe author(s) of the document. Selection of document title and authorinformation 452 may cause detailed information, possibly in the form ofa reference page (described below) or an excerpt page (described below),associated with the document to be presented.

First and second excerpts 454 and 456 may include portions of thedocument that include a search term of the search query. Each ofexcerpts 454 and 456 may include a page number associated with theexcerpt. In one implementation, selection of the page number may resultin presentation of an excerpt page (described below) associated with theexcerpt. While two excerpts are shown, more or fewer excerpts may bepresented.

Link 458 may permit one or more other excerpts from the document to bepresented to the user. Image 460 may include an image of, for example, afront cover (or another portion) of the document (if available). In oneimplementation, image 460 includes a thumbnail version of the frontcover of the document.

Returning to FIG. 3A, one of the documents in the search results may beselected by the user (act 325). In one implementation, selection of adocument may include selection of a link associated with the document,such as selection of document title 412 (FIG. 4A) or document title andauthor information 452 (FIG. 4B).

In one implementation consistent with the principles of the invention,detailed information regarding a document, possibly in the form of areference page, may be presented to the user in response to the userselecting the document (act 330) (FIG. 3B). In another implementationconsistent with the principles of the invention, detailed informationregarding a document, possibly in the form of an excerpt page, may bepresented to the user in response to the user selecting the document(act 340).

FIGS. 5A-5C are exemplary diagrams of reference pages that may bepresented according to a few implementations consistent with theprinciples of the invention. Similar to the previous example and theexamples to follow, assume that a user provided a search query thatincluded the search term “memory” and a search was performed based onthe search query to identify a set of documents related to the searchquery.

In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 5A, a reference page 500 mayinclude an excerpt 502 from the document, a synopsis 504 of thedocument, a jacket or flap description 506 associated with the document,related information 508, bibliographic information 510, and a set oflinks 512 to different portions of the document.

Excerpt 502 may include a portion of text from the document that mayinclude a search term of the search query. The portion of text maycorrespond to an image of the document text or the text version.Occurrences of the search term may be visually distinguished (e.g.,highlighted) in the portion of text. In this implementation, the user ispermitted to view three excerpts from the document by selecting aselectable object, such as “Next” or “Previous.” In otherimplementations, the user may be permitted to view more or fewerexcerpts.

Synopsis 504 may include a brief description of the contents of thedocument. Jacket or flap description 506 may include text from a jacket,cover, or flap associated with the document. Related information 508 mayinclude information regarding web documents that are related to thedocument or an author associated with the document. For example, relatedinformation 508 may include information relating to web document(s) witha review of the document, web document(s) with a biography of theauthor, other web document(s) related to the document, web document(s)and/or image(s) related to the author, news article(s) related to thedocument or the author, and/or product(s) related to the document.

Bibliographic information 510 may include information, such as the ISBN,ISSN, the name of the publisher, the category code that identifies acategory of the topical content of the document, the publication date,the title, the name of an author associated with the document, and/or aformat (e.g., hardcover, paperback, etc.) associated with the document.In other implementations, bibliographic information 510 may includemore, fewer, or different pieces of information. Links 512 may includelinks to various portions of the document. For example, the links mayreference the front cover, the table of contents, the index, and/or theback cover of the document.

Reference page 500 may also include an image 514 and/or an advertisement(ad) 516 associated with the document. Image 514 may include an imageof, for example, a front cover (or another portion) of the document (ifavailable). In one implementation, image 514 includes a thumbnailversion of the front cover of the document. Advertisement 516 mayinclude a set of advertisements associated with a business that sellsthe document, other documents associated with the author, and/ordocuments related to this document. Advertisement 516 may also, oralternatively, include an advertisement associated with or derived from,the search query, other (related) documents, or user behavior.

In an alternate implementation, as shown in FIG. 5B, a reference page530 may include a synopsis regarding the document (not shown), a jacketor flap description associated with the document (not shown), relatedinformation (not shown), bibliographic information (not shown), a set oflinks 512 to different portions of the document, an image 514 associatedwith the document, and/or an advertisement (not shown) associated withthe document as shown in and described with respect to FIG. 5A.Reference page 530 may also include a set of excerpts 532-536 from thedocument. Excerpts 532-536 may include portions of text from thedocument that may include a search term of the search query. Theportions of text may correspond to images of the document text or thetext versions. Occurrences of the search term may be visuallydistinguished (e.g., highlighted) in the portions of text. In thisimplementation, three excerpts from the document may be presented. Inother implementations, more or fewer excerpts may be presented.

In yet another implementation, as shown in FIG. 5C, a reference page 560may include a synopsis 504 regarding the document, a jacket or flapdescription 506 associated with the document, related information 508,bibliographic information 510, an image 514 associated with thedocument, and/or an advertisement (ad) 516 associated with the documentas shown in and described with respect to FIG. 5A. Reference page 560may also include a set of links 562 to different portions of thedocument. Links 562 may include links to various portions of thedocument. For example, the links may reference the front cover, thetable of contents, a relevant excerpt, the index, and/or the back coverof the document. Selection of the excerpt link may cause an excerpt pageto be presented, as described below.

Returning to FIG. 3B, it may optionally be determined whether an excerptof the document is desired (act 335). In one implementation, selectionof the excerpt link (FIG. 5C), a document in a set of search results(FIGS. 4A and 4B), or a page number associated with an excerpt (FIGS. 4Aand 4B) may indicate a user's desire to be presented with an excerpt ofthe document. In response, an excerpt page may be presented (act 340).

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of an excerpt page 600 that may bepresented according to an implementation consistent with the principlesof the invention. Excerpt page 600 may include document title and authorinformation 610, page number information 620, an image 630 associatedwith the document, links 640 to different portions of the document, anexcerpt 650 from the document, a link 662 for viewing a next excerpt, alink 664 for viewing a previous excerpt, a link 670 for viewing allexcerpts, an option 680 to jump to a particular page in the document,and an advertisement 690 associated with the document.

Document title and author information 610 may include a title associatedwith the document and/or the name(s) of the author(s) of the document.Page number information 620 may include a page number associated withexcerpt 650. Page number information 620 may optionally includeselectable objects that permit a previous or next page in the documentto be presented. Image 630 may include an image of, for example, a frontcover (or another portion) of the document (if available). In oneimplementation, image 630 includes a thumbnail version of the frontcover of the document.

Links 640 may include links to various portions of the document. Forexample, the links may reference a reference page (e.g., FIGS. 5A-5C),the copyright page, the table of contents, an excerpt, and/or the indexassociated with the document. In other implementations, links 640 mayreference more, fewer, or different portions of the document. Thedocument portions may optionally be linked together to permit a user toperuse them. For example, in response to selection of a link, such asthe table of contents link, a table of contents page may be presentedsimilar to excerpt 650. A user may be presented with other pages of thetable of contents or pages of other document portions in response to theuser selecting a forward or backward arrow, such as the selectableobjects associated with page information 620. In one implementation, theuser may be presented with pages of each of the document portions inresponse to repeated selections of the forward or backward arrow. Inanother implementation, the user may be presented with pages within asingle document portion in response to repeated selections of theforward or backward arrow. In this latter implementation, the user mayselect a link corresponding to another document portion to view a page,or set of pages, corresponding to that document portion.

Excerpt 650 may include text from a page of the document that mayinclude a search term of the search query. Excerpt 650 may correspond toan image of the page text or the text version and, in oneimplementation, may include all or substantially all of the text fromthe page. Occurrences of the search term may be visually distinguished(e.g., highlighted) on the page. In another implementation, excerpt 650may include text from a set of two (or more) pages. The pages mayoptionally be presented in a manner based on their corresponding pagenumbers.

View next link 662 may permit a next excerpt from the document to bepresented. The next excerpt may correspond to another page from thedocument that may include a search term of the search query, which mayor may not be the next sequential page in the document. View previouslink 664 may permit a previous excerpt from the document to bepresented. The previous excerpt may correspond to another page from thedocument that may include a search term of the search query, which mayor may not be the previous sequential page in the document.

View all link 670 may permit all, substantially all, or a predeterminednumber of excerpts from the document to be presented. The excerpts maybe presented in a manner described in more detail below. Option 680 mayinclude a page number box and a jump to page button. A page number maybe provided in the page number box and when the jump to page button isselected, the corresponding page may be presented in a manner similar toexcerpt 650. Advertisement 690 may include a set of advertisementsassociated with a business that sells the document, other documentsassociated with the author, and/or documents related to this document.Advertisement 690 may also, or alternatively, include an advertisementassociated with or derived from the search query, other (related)documents, or user behavior.

Returning to FIG. 3B, it may be determined whether a next or previousexcerpt page is desired (act 345). In one implementation, selection ofview next link 662 (FIG. 6) may indicate a user's desire to be presentedwith a next excerpt from the document and selection of view previouslink 664 may indicate a user's desire to be presented with a previousexcerpt from the document. In response to selection of view next link662 or view previous link 664, a next or previous excerpt page, similarto excerpt page 600 (FIG. 6), may be presented (act 350).

It may also be determined whether all excerpts are desired (act 355)(FIG. 3C). In one implementation, selection of view all link 670 (FIG.6) may indicate a user's desire to be presented with all excerpts fromthe document. In response to selection of view all link 670, an allexcerpts page may be presented (act 360).

FIGS. 7A-7C are exemplary diagrams of all excerpts pages that may bepresented according to a few implementations consistent with theprinciples of the invention. In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 7A,an all excerpts page 700 may include document title and authorinformation 702, an image 704 associated with the document, links 706 todifferent portions of the document, a set of excerpts 708 from thedocument, a set of links 710 to other excerpts in the document, and anadvertisement 712 associated with the document.

Document title and author information 702 may include a title associatedwith the document and/or the name(s) of the author(s) of the document.Image 704 may include an image of, for example, a front cover (oranother portion) of the document (if available). In one implementation,image 704 includes a thumbnail version of the front cover of thedocument. Links 706 may include links to various portions of thedocument. For example, the links may reference the front cover, thetable of contents, an excerpt, the index, and/or the back coverassociated with the document. In other implementations, links 706 mayreference more, fewer, or different portions of the document.

Excerpts 708 may include portions of text from the document that mayinclude a search term of the search query. The portions of text maycorrespond to images of the document text or the text versions.Occurrences of the search term may be visually distinguished (e.g.,highlighted) within the portions of text. Each of excerpts 708 mayinclude a page number associated with the excerpt. In oneimplementation, selection of the page number may result in presentationof an excerpt page, such as excerpt page 600 (FIG. 6), associated withthe excerpt.

Links 710 may correspond to other excerpts from the document. A linkassociated with a set of document pages may be selected and relevantexcerpts within these pages may be presented. Presentation of theseadditional excerpts may resemble all excerpts page 700. Advertisement712 may include a set of advertisements associated with a business thatsells the document, other documents associated with the author, and/ordocuments related to this document. Advertisement 712 may also, oralternatively, include an advertisement associated with or derived fromthe search query, other (related) documents, or user behavior.

In an alternate implementation, as shown in FIG. 7B, an all excerptspage 730 may include document title and author information 702, an image704 associated with the document, links 706 to different portions of thedocument, a set of links 710 to other excerpts in the document, and anadvertisement 712 associated with the document, as shown in anddescribed with respect to FIG. 7A. All excerpts page 730 may alsoinclude a set of excerpts 732 from the document.

Excerpts 732 may include portions of text from the document that mayinclude a search term of the search query. The portions of text maycorrespond to images of the document text or the text versions.Occurrences of the search term may be visually distinguished (e.g.,highlighted) within the portions of text. Each of excerpts 732 mayinclude a page number associated with the excerpt. In oneimplementation, selection of the page number may result in presentationof an excerpt page, such as excerpt page 600 (FIG. 6), associated withthe excerpt. Each of excerpts 732 may also include an image associatedwith the excerpt. In one implementation, the image includes an image ofthe page containing the excerpt and possibly an indicator thatidentifies where on the page the excerpt occurs. The image may includean embedded link that, when selected, may result in presentation of anexcerpt page, such as excerpt page 600, associated with the excerpt.

In yet another implementation, as shown in FIG. 7C, an all excerpts page760 may include document title and author information 702, an image 704associated with the document, links 706 to different portions of thedocument, and an advertisement 712 associated with the document, asshown in and described with respect to FIG. 7A. All excerpts page 760may also include a set of page images 762 associated with the documentand links 764 to other sets of page images. Page images 762 may includeimages of pages of the document that may include a search term of thesearch query and page numbers associated with these pages. In oneimplementation, selection of a page number may result in presentation ofan excerpt page, such as excerpt page 600 (FIG. 6), associated with thepage. The page images may include embedded links that, when selected,may result in presentation of excerpt pages, such as excerpt page 600,associated with the pages. Links 764 may permit presentation of aprevious set or a next set of page images.

Returning to FIG. 3C, it may be determined whether an excerpt (or a pageimage) is selected (act 365). Excerpts and/or page images may beselected in a manner similar to that described above. Also as describedabove, selection of an excerpt and/or a page image may result inpresentation of an excerpt page associated with the selected excerptand/or page image (act 340) (FIG. 3B).

Previously Accessed Pages

It may be beneficial to provide users with easy access to pages of adocument that the users previously accessed. It may also be beneficialto provide users with easy access to pages from different documents thatthe users previously accessed. Either of these would assist users infinding information of interest. Techniques exist for tracking pagesaccessed by users.

FIGS. 8-13 are exemplary diagrams of graphical user interfaces that maybe presented to assist users in accessing previously accessed pagesaccording to a few implementations consistent with the principles of theinvention. An exemplary diagram of an excerpt page 800 that may bepresented according to an implementation consistent with the principlesof the invention is shown in FIG. 8. Excerpt page 800 may includedocument title and author information 610, page number information 620,an image 630 associated with the document, links 640 to differentportions of the document, an excerpt 650 from the document, and anadvertisement 690 associated with the document, as shown in anddescribed with respect to FIG. 6.

Excerpt page 800 may also include a set of links 810 associated withpreviously accessed pages. Links 810 may include links 812 to particularpreviously accessed pages and a link 814 to all previously accessedpages. Selection of one of links 812 may cause an excerpt page similarto excerpt page 800 to be presented. Selection of link 814 may cause apage of previously accessed pages to be presented.

In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 9, a page 900 of previouslyaccessed pages associated with a document may include document title andauthor information 910, an image 920 associated with the document, links930 to different portions of the document, a set of excerpts 940associated with previously accessed pages from the document, and anadvertisement 950 associated with the document.

Document title and author information 910 may include a title associatedwith the document and/or the name(s) of the author(s) of the document.Image 920 may include an image of, for example, a front cover (oranother portion) of the document (if available). In one implementation,image 920 includes a thumbnail version of the front cover of thedocument. Links 930 may include links to various portions of thedocument. For example, the links may reference the front cover, thetable of contents, an excerpt, the index, and/or the back coverassociated with the document. In other implementations, links 930 mayreference more, fewer, or different portions of the document.Advertisement 950 may include a set of advertisements associated with abusiness that sells the document, other documents associated with theauthor, or documents related to this document. Advertisement 950 mayalso, or alternatively, include an advertisement associated with orderived from the search query, other (related) documents, or userbehavior.

Excerpts 940 may include portions of text from previously accessed pagesof the document. The portions of text may correspond to images of thedocument text or the text versions. Optionally, occurrences of a searchterm may be visually distinguished (e.g., highlighted) within theportions of text. Each of excerpts 940 may include a page numberassociated with the excerpt. In one implementation, selection of thepage number may result in presentation of an excerpt page, such asexcerpt page 800 (FIG. 8), associated with the excerpt. While twoexcerpts 940 are shown in FIG. 9, the number of excerpts 940 may beconfigurable based on time (e.g., all pages accessed within the last 10hours) or number (e.g., the last 20 pages accessed).

In an alternate implementation, as shown in FIG. 10, a page 1000 ofpreviously accessed pages associated with a document may includedocument title and author information 910, an image 920 associated withthe document, links 930 to different portions of the document, and anadvertisement 950 associated with the document, as shown in anddescribed with respect to FIG. 9. Page 1000 may also include a set ofexcerpts 1010 associated with previously accessed pages from thedocument.

Excerpts 1010 may include portions of text from previously accessedpages of the document. The portions of text may correspond to images ofthe document text or the text versions. Optionally, occurrences of asearch term may be visually distinguished (e.g., highlighted) within theportions of text. Each of excerpts 1010 may include a page numberassociated with the excerpt. In one implementation, selection of thepage number may result in presentation of an excerpt page, such asexcerpt page 800 (FIG. 8), associated with the excerpt.

Each of excerpts 1010 may also include an image associated with theexcerpt. In one implementation, the image includes an image of the pagecontaining the excerpt and possibly an indicator that identifies whereon the page the excerpt occurs. The image may include an embedded linkthat, when selected, may result in presentation of an excerpt page, suchas excerpt page 800, associated with the excerpt. While two excerpts1010 are shown in FIG. 10, the number of excerpts 1010 may beconfigurable based on time (e.g., all pages accessed within the last 2days) or number (e.g., the last 30 pages accessed).

In yet another implementation, as shown in FIG. 11, a page 1100 ofpreviously accessed pages associated with a document may includedocument title and author information 910, an image 920 associated withthe document, links 930 to different portions of the document, and anadvertisement 950 associated with the document, as shown in anddescribed with respect to FIG. 9. Page 1100 may also include a set ofpage images 1110 associated with the document and possibly links toother sets of page images if necessary (not shown). Page images 1110 mayinclude images of pages of the document that were previously accessedand page numbers associated with these pages. In one implementation,selection of a page number may result in presentation of an excerptpage, such as excerpt page 800, associated with the page. The pageimages may include embedded links that, when selected, may result inpresentation of excerpt pages, such as excerpt page 800, associated withthe pages.

In a further implementation, as shown in FIG. 12, a page 1200 ofpreviously accessed pages may be associated with a number of documents.As shown in FIG. 12, page 1200 may include, for each document, an image1210 associated with the document (if available), an excerpt 1220associated with the document, and a link 1230 to other previouslyaccessed pages in the document (if necessary).

Image 1210 may include an image of, for example, a front cover (oranother portion) of the document (if available). In one implementation,image 1210 includes a thumbnail version of the front cover of thedocument. Excerpt 1220 may include a portion of text from a previouslyaccessed page of the document. The portion of text may correspond to animage of the document text or the text version. Excerpt 1220 may includea page number associated with the excerpt. In one implementation,selection of the page number may result in presentation of an excerptpage, such as excerpt page 800, associated with the excerpt. Link 1230may permit other previously accessed pages associated with this document(if any) to be presented.

Page 1200 may also include an advertisement 1240. Advertisement 1240 mayinclude a set of advertisements associated with a business that sells adocument associated with page 1200, other documents associated with anauthor of a document associated with page 1200, and/or documents relatedto a document associated with page 1200. Advertisement 1240 may also, oralternatively, include an advertisement associated with or derived froma search query, other (related) documents, or user behavior.

In another implementation, as shown in FIG. 13, a page 1300 ofpreviously accessed pages may be associated with a number of documents.As shown in FIG. 13, page 1300 may include a set of page images 1310associated with a set of documents and possibly links 1320 to other setsof page images (if any). A page image 1310 may include an image of apage of a document that was previously accessed. A page numberassociated with the page and document information (e.g., title and/orauthor information) associated with the document may be provided alongwith the image of the page. In one implementation, selection of the pagenumber or document information may result in presentation of an excerptpage, such as excerpt page 800, associated with the page. The pageimages may include embedded links that, when selected, may result inpresentation of excerpt pages, such as excerpt page 800, associated withthe pages.

Page 1300 may also include an advertisement 1330. Advertisement 1330 mayinclude a set of advertisements associated with a business that sells adocument associated with page 1300, other documents associated with anauthor of a document associated with page 1300, or documents related toa document associated with page 1300. Advertisement 1330 may also, oralternatively, include an advertisement associated with or derived froma search query, other (related) documents, or user behavior.

Conclusion

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention mayprovide information regarding documents in a manner that is useful tothe users.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention provides illustration and description, but is not intended tobe exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention.

For example, while series of acts have been described with regard toFIGS. 3A-3C, the order of the acts may be modified in otherimplementations consistent with the principles of the invention.Further, non-dependent acts may be performed in parallel.

It has been described that a document is identified as a result of asearch. In other implementations, however, the document may beidentified in other ways, such as from a directory, category, or otherlisting of documents.

Also, exemplary graphical user interfaces have been described withrespect to FIGS. 4A-13. In other implementations consistent with theprinciples of the invention, the graphical user interfaces may includemore, fewer, or different pieces of information.

It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that aspects ofthe invention, as described above, may be implemented in many differentforms of software, firmware, and hardware in the implementationsillustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specializedcontrol hardware used to implement aspects consistent with theprinciples of the invention is not limiting of the present invention.Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects were described withoutreference to the specific software code—it being understood that one ofordinary skill in the art would be able to design software and controlhardware to implement the aspects based on the description herein.

No element, act, or instruction used in the present application shouldbe construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitlydescribed as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended toinclude one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term“one” or similar language is used. Further, the phrase “based on” isintended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly statedotherwise.

1. A method, comprising: receiving a search query; identifying adocument based on the search query; and providing a search result basedon the document, the search result comprising: an image associated withthe document, an excerpt from the document that is associated with thesearch query, and a plurality of links to other excerpts in the documentthat are associated with the search query.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the image corresponds to a front cover associated with thedocument.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the image includes athumbnail version of the front cover associated with the document. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the search result further comprises: atitle associated with the document, and information regarding an authorof the document.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the excerpt includesa plurality of words, at least one of the words being visuallydistinguished with regard to at least one other one of the words.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a selection associatedwith the document; and providing a reference page associated with thedocument based on receiving the selection associated with the document.7. The method of claim 6, wherein the reference page comprises: anexcerpt from the document, and a set of links to portions of thedocument.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the excerpt comprises animage of a portion of text associated with the document.
 9. The methodof claim 7, wherein the excerpt comprises a plurality of excerpts fromthe document.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of linksreference at least one of: a front cover associated with the document, atable of contents associated with the document, an index associated withthe document, or a back cover associated with the document.
 11. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the reference page comprises: a set of linksto portions of the document, and at least one of: a description of acontent of the document, text associated with one of a jacket, cover, orflap associated with the document, information regarding web documentsassociated with the document, bibliographic information associated withthe document, or an advertisement.
 12. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: providing an excerpt page associated with the document, theexcerpt page comprising: a page excerpt associated with the document andthe search query, and at least one of: a link to a next or previous pageexcerpt in the document that is associated with the search query, or alink to all page excerpts in the document that are associated with thesearch query.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the page excerptincludes substantially all text associated with a page of the document.14. The method of claim 12, wherein the excerpt page further comprisesat least one of: an image associated with the document, a set of linksto portions of the document, or an advertisement.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the set of links reference at least one of: areference page associated with the document, a copyright page associatedwith the document, a table of contents associated with the document, oran index associated with the document.
 16. The method of claim 1,further comprising: providing information associated with a plurality ofpages in the document.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein theinformation associated with one of the pages comprises: a portion oftext from the page, and an image of the page.
 18. The method of claim17, wherein the image of the page includes an indicator that identifieswhere on the page the portion of text occurs.
 19. The method of claim16, wherein the information associated with a plurality of pagescomprises images of the pages.
 20. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: generating information associated with a plurality ofpreviously accessed pages of the document; and providing the informationassociated with the plurality of previously accessed pages. 21-52.(canceled)